Marshmallow Madness

Marshmallow Madness: Family Time Training

Welcome to the easiest family devotional you’ll ever come across- Marshmallow Madness! We can do this!

I challenge you to spend 20 minutes a week being intentional about passing your faith on to your kids …and all you need is a bag of marshmallows.

This week: Family Time Training

“… If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” 2 Corinthians 5:17

This week we are going to showcase another wonderful family ministry. In addition to being licensed as a presenter with the National Center for Biblical Parenting, I had the privilege of meeting the founder and president of Family Time Training, Kirk Weaver, when I was in Houston for training. I appreciated his genuine heart to teach biblical truths using family fun. As you’ll see, these activities are meant to be super exciting -the neighbourhood kids will be inviting themselves over! Head on over to his website at www.famtime.com where you’ll find a free monthly activity (and more free ones in the archives) as well as details to subscribe to unlimited activities that you can choose based on the ages of your kids or the values you want to teach. Brilliant!

Here is a portion of this months free activity:
Teaching Goal: God created the “family” as a vehicle to get His children safely
to the home in heaven He has prepared for them.

Read Deuteronomy 6:7. One of the most important reasons God created families was so
that parents would teach their children about His laws—the Bible is filled with God’s law.
God’s laws are designed to get us to heaven safely so we can live with God for all eternity.
Family Time is one way we, the parents, try to teach you God’s laws for living. Can you
think of other ways our family learns about God’s important life lessons? Listen to answers.
Going to church. Children’s and/or youth programs. Christian radio. School. Grandparents.
Other Christians. The Bible. Prayer.

ACTIVITY: This shoe box represents our family. This raw egg represents a member in
our family. Pick a family member who has a personal relationship with Jesus. Write the name
of that family member on the egg. Write the name “Jesus” on a zip lock bag, put the egg in the
bag and seal it tightly. The zip lock bag represents Jesus. {Name} is a Christian so they are
in Christ. We are going to use strips of newspaper to protect the egg from breaking during the crisis. Tear the
newspaper into strips. We are going to write on some of the paper strips ways that our family learns about God.
Pack the box full of newspaper strips. Remember, these strips of newspaper represent having God’s lessons in
our lives. Let’s see what happens in a crisis when we know and follow God’s lessons.
Drop the box- if packed securely the egg should not break.
Open up the box and point out that the person is in Christ. Point out that the lessons kept the person from breaking. Remember, the box represents our family. The most important thing is that each of us is in Christ represented
by the zip lock bag. That means we believe and follow Jesus. Next, as a family, we need to
be reading our Bible, listening to our parents, doing Family Time and participating in
church so we can be safer and more protected when hard times come.

Memorize: Family is God’s way, To safely guide our day.

Finish off with a quick family prayer. God cares about every area of our lives; let’s encourage the children to pray about whatever is on their hearts. Add to your prayer journal weekly, and be sure to leave space to jot down a quick note when God answers the prayer. Your kids will grow stronger in their faith when they can look back and see what the Lord has done.How did this work for you? Did you adapt it to fit your family?